| Phontong Handicraft Cooperative |
| |
|
The Phontong Handicraft
Cooperative (PHC) is a network of traditional Lao artisans which spans
35 villages and connects over
450 people. Their base is Vientiane, Lao P.D.R. and their connections
extend throughout Central and Northern Lao.
The cooperative is committed to increasing and stabilising the livelihood of
Lao villagers through the renewal and support of traditional Lao handicrafts.
It provides training and seeks market outlets. Their vision is to create sustainable
livelihood and to promote environmentally and culturally appropriate practices
in the communities where they work. |
 |
PHC History
|
|
| PHC was established in 1976,
when a small group of 10 women who lived in Phontong Village, Vientiane
organised themselves to sell handicrafts that they produced. |
 |
| |
| At this time, Phontong Village
was a haphazard settlement for the internally displaced people of Northern
Lao. Tremors from the
Cold War - in the form of civil strife and cluster bombs - had forced
many from their homes and communities. A new communist government was
in power and employment was hard to find in this time of transition. |
| |
|
| Kommaly Chanthavong was one of the many internally
displaced people living in Phontong. At the age of 10, she had left her
home village near the northern town of Xam Neua and walked over 250 km
through mountainous terrain in order to reach family in Vientiane. |
| |
|
| In 1976, two
options existed for those looking for employment - find work with the
Government or work within a coop. Kommaly
decided not to work for the Government, as she was hoping to help those
in her community. She had noticed that many women in the village had
no employment and little source of income besides the small wages men
received for manual labour. She knew that many of the women
from Northern Lao had learnt traditional weaving skills from their mothers
and grandmothers. Equipped with this knowledge and a lot of determination,
Kommaly asked 10 women to meet together in her house and start the ‘Phontong
Weavers’. |
| |
|
| The Phontong Weavers functioned as a simple cooperative
by sharing what they had and what they made. Old looms, technical knowledge,
money, and time were all donated to the group, and the resulting products
were sold in the ‘Morning Market’. The Weavers turned out
to be so successful they caught the Government’s eye in 1977. In
this year, the Government asked the group to weave the numerous ribbons
needed for the uniforms of soldiers and police officers. This extra business
allowed the weavers to expand their operation and start working in the
villages around Vientiane. |
| |
|
| In 1985, the group applied to the Government to become
a recognised cooperative. Kommaly was elected as the director of the
coop, and the group legally became the ‘Phontong Handicraft Cooperative’ (PHC).
PHC has become the only surviving, self-sustaining Handicraft Cooperative
in Laos today. |
| |
|
| One of the reasons
why the PCH is economically sustainable can be attributed to its business
structure. The Laos socialist government forbids the setting
up of local NGOs, thus in 1990 PHC and CAMA Services (Compassion and Mercy
Associate’s Services) set up a company called Phonthong-CAMA Handicraft
Cooperative with the aim to run the company as a non-profit handicraft
project, and as a relatively, economically, independent organisation. The
company expanded its work to include Hmong communities (the main hill minority
group in Laos). |
| |
|
Kommaly’s vision is to expand the benefits of
the PHC to poorer areas of Laos (Kommaly herself came from the poorest
region in the North). She wants to see the rural farmers engaged in the
whole cycle of production from silk thread to finished handicraft products.
|
| |
|
| In 1995, Kommaly
helped start the Lao
Sericulture Company in order to work with farmers in North of Lao
Hua Phan and Xieng Khoang in silk production. |
